A majority of registered Republican primary voters in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll view their presidential field as "average," while only one in five say it's "strong."

According to the poll, just 21 percent characterize the GOP field as strong (meaning that it is superior to past election cycles and that it has many good candidates to choose from), while 27 percent believe it's weak (inferior to past elections and hardly any good candidates).

And 51 percent of respondents -- a majority -- say it's average (equal to past election cycles and some good candidates to choose from).

The NBC/WSJ poll -- which was conducted of 1,000 respondents (and 271 Republicans), and which has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points (+/- 6.0 points for Republicans) -- will be released in full beginning at 6:30 pm ET.